Henry Onderdonk
’49

Published in June 5, 2002, issue

Hank died Aug. 17, 2001, while backpacking in the Sierra. He was 73. He prepared for Princeton at St. James School. He was a member of Key and Seal Club and majored in music. He was in the Glee Club and served on the staff of the Daily Princetonian. Hank served in the Army from 1952-54 in Korea.

After earning graduate degrees at the U. of Michigan he moved to San Francisco in 1960 and began a 34-year career as a composer and professor of music at San Francisco State U., where he taught both classical and contemporary music and directed graduate studies and the Composers Workshop. He also composed numerous chamber music compositions which have been performed worldwide. His works include "Sonata for Two Pianos," "Music for Viola and Piano," and "Two Songs," settings of poems by Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Hank is survived by his wife, Jeannette Eisen, a son, Gabriel, and a daughter, Emily. The class extends its sympathy to all of them on the loss of this talented man.